Djarum

In 1951, Oei Wie Gwan, an Indonesian businessman who immigrated from China in 1920, acquired NV Murup, a nearly defunct cigarette company in Kudus, Central Java. NV Murup's most popular brand of cigarettes was called Djarum Gramofon (English: gramophone needle); Gwan shortened the name to Djarum (needle). The company nearly collapsed in 1963 when its factory was destroyed in a fire around the time of Oei's death. Oei's sons Budi and Bambang Hartono took over the company and began the process of rebuilding it.

The company began producing machine-rolled kretek in the late 1970s, but it also continues to produce hand-rolled kretek made by manual labourers. In 2016, Djarum and several other tobacco companies in Indonesia were implicated by Human Rights Watch for the use of child labor without hand protection.

Through its expansion into various other non-cigarette sectors, including food, drink, banking, garments, and technology, in the 1980s and 1990s Djarum became one of the top five largest conglomerates within Indonesia. By 2010, Djarum Group was the largest conglomerate in Indonesia.

After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the company became a part of a consortium that bought Bank Central Asia (BCA) from BPPN. BCA is the largest private bank in Indonesia and was formerly a part of the Salim Group. Presently, the majority stake of the bank (51%) is controlled by Djarum. In 2004, Djarum acquired a 30-year BOT contract from the government to develop and renovate Hotel Indonesia in Jakarta under the Grand Indonesia superblock project.

The Djarum badminton club, PB Djarum, was founded in 1974 by Budi Hartono. Its players, such as Liem Swie King and Alan Budikusuma, have won numerous championships for Indonesia.

Djarum's kreteks enjoyed a high level of popularity among smokers in the United States during the clove cigarette fad of the 1980s. Since 2009, most flavoured cigarettes in the United States have been banned following the passing of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. To circumvent the ban, Djarum's clove products are now marketed as "filtered cigars" and are wrapped in a black paper. They are packaged in boxes of 20.

Non-cigarette business lines

Through its direct investments, or its venture capital arm (GDP Venture), or other arms, as of 2026 Djarum Group has known investments in business as follows:

Banking Services

Bank Central Asia (PT Bank Central Asia Tbk), largest private bank in Indonesia

ALTO (PT ALTO Network), interbank network

Retail

Blibli (PT Global Digital Niaga Tbk), e-commerce and electronic retail store, which also hold shares in: